Columbine football off and running in playoff opener

LAKEWOOD — Columbine senior running back Josh Snyder might have been a little tired going into the locker room at halftime Friday night.

Snyder had touchdown runs of 35, 45, 1 and 68 yards in the opening half at Jeffco Stadium in the Rebels’ 65-7 victory over Fountain-Fort Carson in the second-round Class 5A playoff game.

“When I was really gassed was after that second touchdown,” Snyder said of his 45-yard touchdown run with 5:21 left in the first quarter. “That was when I was most tired.”

The Rebels never got tired of seeing five different players score the nine rushing touchdowns in the dominating victory over the Trojans. No. 2 Columbine (11-0 record) got seven first-half touchdowns runs in the first half. Besides Snyder’s four scores, senior Mason Moreno had runs of 75 and 5 yards to the house. Junior James Basinger added a 1-yard run.

“Absolutely,” Columbine coach Andy Lowry said when ask if he was surprised by the blowout win. “We watched them (Fountain-Fort Carson) last week and they were physical. They beat Fairview up. I’m really proud of our guys.”

Juniors Tre Ogden and Cameron Powell scored fourth quarter touchdowns for the Rebels to give Columbine the 58-point margin of victory.

“We came in thinking they (Fountain-Fort Carson) would pop us in the mouth a little bit,” Columbine senior defensive end Hunter Hamilton said. “We ended up reversing that. We came out and were nasty. We are a physical team. We might not be the biggest, but we know how to pack a punch.”

Columbine did get a defense score along with all the rushing touchdowns. Hamilton sacked Fountain-Fort Carson quarterback Kaleb Keits for a safety midway through the first quarter.

“They kind of missed me and I was lucky enough to react to the play in time and sack the quarterback,” Hamilton said. “It was awesome.”

Fountain-Fort Carson (8-4) had one lone score. Senior Mathias Price had an 81-yard touchdown run to cut the Rebels’ lead to 16-7 in the first quarter. Columbine preceded to answer with five straight touchdowns to close out the half. 

Snyder’s longest touchdown run of 68 yards in the final 2 minutes of the first half pushed it to a 51-7 lead at halftime and induce a running clock for the remainder of the game.

“We came out and executed great,” Snyder said of the first half. “It was great to see our second-string guys in the second half.”

Lowry sat his starters for the entire second half with the running clock in effect. 

“Our offensive line played well. Our defense played incredible,” Lowry said. “The kids are playing well.”

Columbine will face No. 10 Legend in the quarterfinals next week back at Jeffco Stadium. The Titans (9-3) upset No. 7 Valor Christian 20-13 on the Eagles home field Friday night.